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Hello all,
I’ve gotten a couple emails lately about monitoring with the GH1. In the 25-35 hours of data recorded on REJOUER, something we did probably 6-7 times was to shoot a quick test shot and play back via a HDMI-mini adapter to HDMI to DVI cable, and hook that cable up to a decent DVI PC monitor and we would get a fair understanding of what the 8-bit 4:2:0 YUV is looking like straight from the camera. I would not use this to judge critically, but you definitely get an idea of your ballpark. After a while, you’ll start to learn how the camera will respond- like a film stock. The on-board LCD of VF (plus the histogram both Y and RGB) should give you a good idea of what the shot will look like.
Hope this helps,
I.
BTW, I’ve had really good luck with the products from Monoprice, and the orders usually arrive at my door (in California) the next day with standard shipping- really impressive!
Dear loyal blog readers- first of all thanks! I’ve had some really great emails over the past few days.
I’m happy to help with advice anywhere I can. Advice is always free.
I’ve been working with a very talented DP lately using the Hot Rod PL, testing the GH1 in a variety of settings. Some interesting things we’ve found.
- Setting the white balance manually is your friend. Using a WB of 5500K sees to produce the best skin tones (in camera)
- The “Smooth” Gamma mode, seems to offer the most pleasing “film like” images
- Even though the camera rating says 100 ISO, you get the best “to eye” image of of what you’re shooting if you actually rate you light meter at 640 (which I think it close to the native ASA of the camea. To repeate- set camera at ISO 100, and the base exposure of your meter to 640.
- Same thing works with a higher ISO, 400. Instead of placing the GH1 at 100, you’ll set it to 400 and your meter at 2500. The results of shooting like this have been stunningly good! I’ll post some images as soon as I can gain permission.
I.
Illya Friedman
Hot Rod Cameras
17 simple rules to make a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 look the best it can.
The Pansonic Lumix GH1 is a remarkable achievement for an inexpensive still/HD camera system (or HDSLR.) However, the GH1 is not without its faults. Over the past several weeks Hot Rod Cameras has compiled some simple rules to help make images shot on the GH1 look as good as possible. Give this blog a quick read, and remember when in doubt “test, test, test” any unusual scenario. As you shoot more with the camera you’ll start to learn instinctively what you can and can’t get away with (just like any other camera system).
Following these steps does not guarantee that you will have no imaging problems, but it will certainly help you be aware of where things can go wrong. When treating the camera correctly it can produce sublime images that look like they come from cameras costing much, much more. Using proper lenses make getting the shot much easier.
As many people start playing with a GH1, they’ll eventually notice that a whip pan doesn’t look particularly good. However, a whip pan is a case of extreme motion and the camera recovers instantly as it slows down so it’s pretty easy to forgive such a minor fault. But that’s not what we do, we wanted to find a scenario that would really break the image, yet seem more or less “mundane.” Any camera can be brought to it’s knees in one respect or another, if you know how. If you would like to see the “worst case scenario” for the GH1 you should plan on doing the following STRESS TEST. Shoot a fast moving subject traveling quickly and repeatedly from screen left to screen right and vice-versa. If the subject is traveling fast enough particularly close to camera or at a focal length where the subject appears quite large in the frame (to smaller in the frame) it will further makes the picture quality deteriorate. Use the deepest focus (largest depth of field) possible. Watching this shot for an extended period of time, you begin to notice problems affecting motion, detail and color. You’ll then have an easier time spotting these problems in the future. After determining the weak spots of the camera we performed our own GH1 “torture test”.
The Hot Rod Cameras GH1 test: A fair skinned child wearing white/orange on a bright day, near trees with dark-black shadows. The child swings on a swing very SWIFTLY back and forth from a ‘medium shot’ to ‘medium close up’. The playground equipment and green trees in the background are near matches for primary colors (red, blue and green). This scenario pushes the dynamic range, compression codec and color space. We also added in a busy background (extra motion), moved the camera in swift pans/hand held and turned on ATW WB.
To clearly spot the problem areas we then viewed 1080/720p test images on an approximately 30’ Stewart 1.0 gain screen, projected by a Christie CP2000 2K projector, with color correction performed on a Quantel Pablo. 1080 pulldown removed, 720/60p converted to 24p.
What’s particularly interesting- those who only saw the test shots on the big screen for a few seconds; or on a large plasma monitor size screen didn’t notice any of these imaging problems. Those of us who watched closely and repeatedly could see them all.
In the next few weeks there’s going to be a lot more information posted about how to get the best possible images from such an inexpensive camera. Links to sample images, and details on productions using PL mount lenses on the GH1.
This is a fantastic way for micro/low-budget shows to get the best bang for the buck possible, and for bigger budget shows to add an extra/creative angle on a shot/scene for almost no additional cost to the production or manpower.
Some of the initial images I’ve seen from the GH1/Hot Rod PL are remarkably encouraging, I can’t wait to see the completed projects shooting right now.
